Azerbaijan may review quality standard fund

The bill on "Technical regulation and conformity assessment" is ready for discussion in the Azerbaijani Parliament.

The bill has been developed within the EU twinning-project together with the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents of the country, head of the department on standardization and technical regulation of the State Committee Namig Tagiyev said at a workshop on "Enhancing the opportunities for participation in international standardization" today.

The bill includes a denial from the mandatory standard introduced in the Soviet period and the transition to voluntary standards in the country. After the refusal from the state standard - GOST, voluntary choice of standards will be introduced.

The introduction of the standards will begin after the bill on "Technical regulation and conformity assessment" developed by the State Committee is approved.

The state standard (GOST) is one of the major categories of standards in the USSR. At present, it is the interstate standard in the CIS. It is adopted by the Interstate Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification. In Soviet times, all GOSTs were required to be used in the areas that are determined by the preamble of the standard. The concepts "technical regulation" and "standard" are divided in the Russian Federation's Federal Law on "Technical Regulation" No 184-FZ of December 27, 2002. As a result, all GOSTs must not be obligatory. They must be applied voluntarily.

"The fund of the standards of the State Committee has about 21,000 standards, 660 of them - national," he said.

He pointed out the major issues that must be resolved to ensure the normal activity of the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents.

"For example, the national standards have not been fully adopted," he said. "At present, there are a lot of old standards in the fund. An effective system of financing has not been formed."


/Trend/